Cold Feet’s Fay Ripley Thought the Series Would be a Flop

Adam Grant

1 year ago

When an actor has the great fortune of scoring a role on a popular, successful series, it’s not common to hear them say they didn’t expect it to survive. Well, actress Fay Ripley colours a little bit outside of the lines here by admitting that she felt “Cold Feet” wasn’t going to pan out following its 1997 debut.

“I thought it was absolutely brilliant, but it was a flop,” humorously noted Ripley during an interview with Express. “Nobody watched the first episode and we thought ITV was going to drop it.

“It then won a big award for comedy, so it was re-shown and did rather well,” she continued. “Potentially it could have been something on my CV that was a flop. But to be honest, you never really know if a project is going to be a hit.”

Of course, “Cold Feet” did become a massive hit in the U.K. during its initial five-year run. For instance, the episode originally thought of as the “Cold Feet” finale (at the end of season five) attracted millions upon millions of viewers.

While many of those millions of viewers may have eventually moved on from “Cold Feet” during its 13 year gap between season five and season six, Ripley explained that the series remained a big part of her life throughout that time.

“There’s been so much talk about a reunion over the years, I gradually got my head around it even when nothing was happening,” said Fay. “So the show has never really left my life, but I mean that in a good way.”

She concluded: “I think we all decided, ‘Let’s make sure this is going to be really good if we are going to do it.’”

This week on “Cold Feet” (Tuesday, February 7 at 8pm ET/5pm PT): Fay and Pete work to keep their family intact; Adam seeks out a new flat with some unexpected assistance; David’s legal issues take a turn; and Karen takes control of her romantic and business interests.